HIST: 4580
Professor Hilliard
Office Hours: Thursdays 3:30-5 (by appointment only)
Office: Wooten Rm. 245
Telephone: 565-4972
E-Mail:
(emails will be answered within 24 hours, excluding Fridays and weekends)
AFRICA TO THE 19TH CENTURY*
Course Description and Objectives:
This course will examine the early history of the African continent in addition to the historiographical debates surrounding the study of Africa. It will, in particular, explore the history of ancient Egypt, Nubia, Ethiopia, early Christian Africa, and the West African merchant empires of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay. It will also examine the nature of the debate between Eurocentric and Afrocentric scholars as it relates to the history of this vast continent. It will also use documentary and feature films as a means of creating a more multi-dimensional experience of the African continent.
Required Texts:
Shillington, History of Africa
Hilliard, Intellectual Traditions of Pre-Colonial Africa
Course Requirements and Grading:
Mid-Term Exam 30%
Final 30%
Term Paper 30%
Periodic Quizzes 5%
Africa Project 5%
The Term paper (10 to 12 pages typed) must present a factual, well-reasoned examination of an issue relating to African History BEFORE THE 17TH CENTURY. This paper must demonstrate clarity of thought and an effective use of source materials. Term papers will also be expected to follow accepted practices of form and style for academic writing, and make accurate use of citations, footnotes, bibliography. Do not hand in a term paper that does not use citations.
The Africa Project represents an opportunity for students to explore the expressive cultures of Africa, through presentation of a creative work inspired by the subject matter of this course. It may involve such activities as the writing of a poem, short story, essay, artistic expression in preparing a drawing, sketch, sculpture, craft making, cooking an African recipe, a short dance, singing or instrumental performance, and so forth. Students’ “Africa Projects” will be presented before the class. As this project represents an opportunity to express your own creativity, please refrain from merely reciting someone else’s poetry or writings. The grading of these projects is pass/fail.
DISABILITY STATEMENT[(]
Any student with special circumstances covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act should register with the Office of Disability Accommodation (ODA), Suite 322, University Union Building, and also inform the instructor of the class. Reasonable adjustments will be made to accommodate the special needs of students with disabilities where such adjustments are necessary to provide equality of educational access.
Students who have registered with the ODA should make an appointment to discuss their disabilities accommodation requests with the instructor. Students with special circumstances covered by the ADA may also consult with the History Department's ADA Liaison, Professor Eaton, in WH 263.
Outline:
Historiography
What is historiography?
Post-modernism
Deconstructing
Ken Wilber’s Four Quadrant System
Urban/civilization Biases
Ethnocentrism
Black & White Africa
The Hamitic Hypothesis
Taxonomic shifts
Construction of race
Early Humans
Theories of African origins
Ancient Egypt
The Dynasties of Ancient Egypt
Cultural Achievements
The Religion of Eternal Life
Akhenaton
Daily Life
Ancient Egypt (continued)
Why the cat has nine lives
The Egyptian view of the self
The Gnostic tradition
Egyptian Women
Legal rights
Family Matters (incest?)
Occupations
Hatshepsut
Cleopatra
Ancient Nubia
The gnostic tradition in egyptian & nubian religion
nubian prehistory
Kerma & The rise of kush
meroitic kush
Later Egyptian History
Alexander the Great
The Library at Alexandria
early African Christianity
The Apostle Mark
Egyptian Influences
Alexandrian Theologians
Origen
Athanasius
Coptic Monophysites
Monastic orders
Coptic Apocrypha
Carthage-Numidia Theologians
Tertullian
Cyprian
Augustine
Ancient Ethiopia
Christian Nubia
Founding of Axum
The Zagwe dynasty
The Solomonid Dynasty
The Muslim Penetration of Ethiopia & Somalia
Islamic Diffusion
Muhammad’s revelation
The Umma
The Conquest of Egypt
The Maghrib
Arabization of North Africa
States & Decentralized Societies of the Western Sudan
Ancient Ghana
Ancient Mali
Songhay
The Hausa States
West African Coastal States
Ife
Benin
Oyo
Decentralized Societies
Kinship systems
Economic bases of subsistence societies
traditions & Religions
East Africa and the Swahili Coast
Great Zimbabwe
Monomatapa
Trading City States of th
[(]¨ *This syllabus is not a contract and may be modified in the course of the semester.